Rabbit Resistant Plants

Rabbit Resistant Plants You May Want To Consider

Anyone who grows gardens, whether for food or pleasure, should be aware of the availability and uses of rabbit resistant plants.

The problem with rabbits is that by their nature, they overcome obstacles the gardener may put in their way. Since outright poisoning is usually not an option (for any number of reasons), the home horticulturist may resort to repellants, guard dogs, higher fences and alarm systems- none of which usually work. Rabbits are generally repellant-resistant, can wait until Fido is elsewhere or asleep, will find a way through or under fences (unless fortified), and couldn’t care bless about alarms. And if they are hungry or thirsty enough, even poisonous plants may not deter them from eating.

A decreasing number of natural predators coupled with the replacement of habitat by housing developments has further aggravated the situation.

Rabbit resistant plants serve the needs of both animal lovers, as well as those who see bunnies only as pests, but have no interest in harming the little nibblers. In either case, there are humane, aesthetically appealing, and environmentally friendly ways to protect plant life from furry herbivores.

What are the signs of rabbit damage? Look for damage that occurs a foot or two above the ground: patches of gnawed wood on bark or older growth, and smaller buds and stems sheared off at an angle. Then there are the telltale, rabbit tracks, and the bunny’s round, pea-sized droppings.

Which plants are most at risk? The obvious answer would be those that are out in the open. Protect them in one of several ways:

Place chicken wire or hardware cloth around (or at the base of), tree trunks and vulnerable plant life.

Locate plants in places the rabbits cannot reach, or in open areas that rabbits are more likely to avoid (die to predator risk).

Vulnerable plants would include:

New transplants, whether grown at home or purchased from a commercial nursery.

Most vegetables

Ornamentals such as ferns.

Fruit tree bark: apple, pear, Asian pear.

Which plants are least vulnerable?

Spiny, prickly types such as cactus.

Toxic plants.

Those with a milky sap such as dandelions.

Aromatic plants.

Tough leathery-leafed plants.

Larger plants.

The following list includes some ornamental grasses, shrubs and trees that, while not as small as many if the plants listed, do start out that way, and can provide a barrier for other, more tender vegetation.

Agave

Ajuga

Alliums

Aloe

Alpine Currant

Apache Plume

Ash

Bask Balm

Bird of Paradise

Black Eyed Susan

Blackfoot daisy

Black Knight Delphinium

Blanket Flower

Bleeding Heart

Blue Avena Oat Grass

Blue Fescue

Blue Flax

Blue Giant Hosta

Boulder Raspberry

Boxwood

Brittlebush

Buckwheat

Butterfly Bush

Carpet Bugle

Catnip

Cedar

Chives

Cinquefoil

Clematis

Cleome

Clustered Bellflower

Columbine

Coneflower

Cotoneaster

Creeping Oregon Grape Holly

Creeping Phlox

Creeping Baby’s Breath

Curl Leaf Mountain Mahogany

Cushion Spurge

Daffodils

Daylily

Delphinium

Dianthus

Douglas Fir

Dragon’s Head

Dwarf Bleeding Heart

Dwarf Butterfly Blue Delphinium

Dwarf Plumbago

Engelmann Ivy

English Ivy

Fir

Foxglove

Gambel Oak

Golden Banner

Golden Currant

Golden Smoke

Golden Tiara Hostas

Goldenrod

Hardy Geraniums

Holly

Hummingbird Flower

Iceland Poppy

Jacob’s Ladder

Japanese Iris

Japanese Maple

Japanese Painted Fern

Japanese Spurge

Juniper

Kinnikinnick

Lamb’s Ears

Lantana

Lavender

Lily-of-the-Valley

Locoweed

Lupine

Maidenhair Tree

Mint

May Night Salvia

Mexican Hat

Mexican Oregano

Monkshood

Moonbeam Coreopsis

Oak

Oleander

Oregano

Oriental Poppy

Pearly everlasting

Penstemon

Periwinkle

Pink Sea Thrift

Pincushion Flower

Piqsqueak

Pine

Poppies

Potentilla

Prince's Plume

Purple Flowering Sage

Pussytoes

Rabbitbrush

Redbud

Rhus

Rosemary

Sage

Santolina

Sea Pink

Sedum

Siberian Iris

Shasta Daisy

Showy Daisy

Snowberry

Snow-in-Summer

Sniowdrop Anemone

Soapwort

Speedwell

Spruce

Sulphur Flower Sumac

Superstition Mallow

Tall Western Sage

Tansy Aster

Texas Mountain Laurel

Texas Sage

Three Leaf Sumac

Thyme

Turpentine Bush

Vine Apple

Veronica

Viburnum

Virginia Creeper

Wisteria

Wormwood

Yarrow

Yellowbells

Yucca

Zagreb Coreopsis

Remember that if rabbits are hungry or thirsty enough, they will try to eat anything in sight. That is why fencing is still the only true deterrent. Proper plant choice and placement, though, will go a long way toward keeping all your vegetation safe and beautiful.